ADC gives talk on Internet content moderation and censorship

On Tuesday, September 6, the Association for Civil Rights (ADC) attended the conference titled Private Regulation on the Internet, organized by the Argentinian Federation of Press Workers (FATPREN), where we discussed platform mechanisms, freedom of expression, and media worker rights. Alejandro Segarra, head of Strategic Litigation, and Eduardo Ferreyra, Project Leader, took part in the panels.

At first, Ferreyra referred to moderation in social media and explained that “tech companies are guided not by the public but by their own commercial interests, and this has an impact on the way content is moderated.” In addition, he called attention to certain behaviors incurred by platforms, such as their approach to the so-called “concerted activities” or the practice of hiding content without deleting it.

Alejandro Segarra, in turn, referred to new forms of censorship in the second expert panel, assuring that citizenship is at a crossroads: “Once again, we see that big tech firms are all over the world deploying their power with little regulation.”

The round tables included referents from other civil society organizations dedicated to the subject, such as Observacom and Access Now. Gustavo Gómez, executive director of Observacom, reviewed the ten main digital rights of social media users addressed in the campaign #TusDerechosEnInternet (Your Rights on the Internet), developed in Argentina together with ADC. In this regard, he said: “The right to moderate should not lead us to accept infringements on freedom of expression. Neither governments nor private companies have the right to censor us.”

ADC continues networking with other social actors and striving for a more transparent digital environment that guarantees democracy and the rights of all citizens.